Cheng Guoqiang is a professor at the College of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Chinese Minmin University
At present, China has entered a new era of moving from middle-income to high-income and marching towards building a modern socialist country in an all-round way. In the new era, there must be "four musts" for the strategic consideration of China's food security.
First, the grain industry must adapt to the new demand and new trend of upgrading the food consumption structure. China's food consumption will enter a new stage of total increase, structural upgrading, and diversified health. However, China's agricultural resources and environmental constraints will become tighter and tighter, and it will be more and more difficult to expand grain production and improve quality and efficiency, and the situation and challenges of ensuring national food security and securing China's rice bowl in the new era will be more complex and severe.
In the future, China will maintain a high level of self-sufficiency in rice and wheat, and has the ability to firmly guard the strategic bottom line of ensuring the absolute safety of food rations, but the gap between the supply and demand of some grains and soybeans and other feed raw materials has expanded, and the self-sufficiency rate has further declined. With the increasingly complex international situation, the instability and uncertainty of China's meat, vegetable oil and other food supply security will further increase, and China's food security will face more severe challenges.
Second, we must provide more solid support for coping with the challenges of the new turbulent and transformative period in the world. The world has entered a new period of turbulence and change, and the uncertainty and instability of the international first-class chain of agricultural products are becoming increasingly severe. In the new era, the new development pattern will enhance the security and stability of development, which requires accelerating the construction of a new pattern of national food security, focusing on consolidating the foundation of food security in an all-round way, firmly grasping the initiative of food security in their own hands, and continuously enhancing the ability of grain and other important agricultural products to ensure supply and price stability and the ability of the international chain of agricultural products to resist risks.
Third, we must make up for the shortcomings and weaknesses of the food security system. The shortcomings of the domestic stable production and supply guarantee system are manifested in the high cost and low income of farmers, the low enthusiasm for growing grain, the prominent structural contradictions in agriculture, and the lag in the high-quality development of grain to adapt to consumption upgradingThe security structure and layout in the reserve control and emergency response system need to be further optimized, the regulation and control capacity should be further strengthened, and the "last mile" problem of the first chain is prominentThe global agricultural ** chain lacks initiative and competitiveness. At present, China's main way of participation in the global chain is direct, mainly imported, and the import is highly concentrated, the structure is single, and the ability to control the upper end of the chain needs to be strengthened.
Fourth, we must accelerate the construction of a new pattern of national food security. It is necessary to upgrade China's current national food security system from a "three-in-one" to a new mechanism of "five-in-one".
The overall grain production capacity must have a solid foundation. It is necessary to firmly guard the bottom line of absolute food ration security, and respond to the uncertainty of the external environment with the certainty of stable domestic production and supply.
The diversified food supply system plays a synergistic role. It is necessary to establish the concept of large-scale agriculture and large-scale resources, optimize the allocation of agricultural resources, make overall plans for the use of national resources, and form a modern agricultural structure and layout that is compatible with market demand and the carrying capacity of resources and the environment.
The high-quality development of grain should be high-quality and efficient. Accelerate the high-quality development of food, take "grain head and food tail" and "agricultural head and worker tail" as the starting point, extend the food industry chain, improve the value chain, and build a first-class chain, promote the transformation and upgrading of the food industry, comprehensively improve quality, efficiency and competitiveness, and realize the unity of food security and modern and efficient agriculture.
The grain reserve and regulation and control system should be effectively regulated and controlled. The function of the national grain reserve is more sound, the layout and structure are more reasonable, and the management system and mechanism are more perfect. The ability to provide comprehensive coordinated support for grain production, purchase, storage, and marketing has been significantly enhanced, the regulation and control system for ensuring grain supply and stabilizing prices has been sound and effective, and the emergency support capacity has been comprehensively improved.
The global agri-food chain needs to be safe and resilient. The global agricultural investment and market monitoring and early warning system is sound and perfect, global agri-food enterprises have grown steadily, the "Belt and Road" agricultural international cooperation platform has played a significant role, and a safe, controllable, sustainable and stable global agri-food network has been fully formed.